Company: Threat Response (T.R.S.)
Tape Name: Secrets of Professional Warriors
Tape Cost: $97 plus $4.50 postage
Length of Tape/Time: Nearly 4.5 hours over four tapes
Number of Moves/Techniques: Innumerable
Return Policy:
Experiences in dealing with this company: Excellent
The Instructor: Bob Taylor & Randy Wanner
Company's Address: 606 E. Acequia Ave.,Visalia , California 93292
Company's Phone Number: 1-800-899-8153
Web Page: http://www.trsdirect.com
E-Mail: bpierce@lightspeed.net

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Primary Grading Criteria:

1. Production/Tape Quality: 10
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 10
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 9
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 10
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 8
6. Degree to which we'd recommend this product: 10
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less "fluff"/repetition): 10
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 9
9. Would I purchase more of this company's products: 10
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value: 10

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Grand Total:

1. 80%-100% = 96 %
2. Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent = Excellent
3. 0-5 stars = 4 stars

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Secondary Grading Criteria:

1. Beginners benefit: Excellent
2. Intermediate benefit: Excellent
3. Advanced benefit: Excellent
4. Time to benefit: Immediate (i.e. as soon as a few hundred hours of practice have been put in)
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: None

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Written Summary:

Yes sir. We have another winner from TRS! Absolutely and without a doubt. A short explanation regarding our reviewing the TRS products as one tape when, physically, there are usually 3 or 4 tapes.

Firstly, because you have to buy it as one package and secondly, because it's usually produced as one coherent whole even if it is spread out over several tapes. Now to the tapes themselves. As to the production standard, the usual professional job by TRS. Good camerawork, clear presentation and no endless repetition as done by Panther productions, to name one. The two instructors have clearly been there, done that and got a whole suitcase full of T-shirts to prove it. Their teaching method is concise, to the point and easily understood. If you are a police officer, bodyguard, liquor store owner or just anyone who faces a high likelyhood of coming up against an armed attacker
(and these days who does not) then you need to study these tapes. They are potentially priceless, simply because: How much is your life worth ?

As to the tapes themselves, I would subdivide them simply into the "unarmed and fearless" section of unarmed defences against weapons and the "fighting chance" section of unarmed combat tactics. What I especially liked about the anti-firearm techniques, was the lenghty scientific experimentation that clearly went into their development. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Wanner spent many hours testing their techniques by using wax bullets and even use a paintball handgun to show what works and what doesn't. Should you ever have to make a move against a handgun held a foot or two from your face, the knowledge of whether to better clear it to the inside or outside may be enough to save your life. One way you live, the other way you die. (Aah, but which way is better, grasshopper? Sorry dude, you'll just have to buy the tapes!) What also becomes clear, not simply because they say so, but rather because they can and do demonstrate it, is that some commonly taught responses such as grabbing the wrist or forearm of the hand holding the gun, may in certain circumstances be highly counterproductive (bang,bang, you're dead). The principles are basic and in this sense not unique to their method i.e. a. clear the line of fire or of threat, b. control the weapon or weapon hand and c. neutralize, inflict damage to disarm. A striking arts friend of mine criticised the joint locks the two instructors use to neutralise the threat, once control of the weapon has been established. He would prefer to follow up with strikes, he said. In his nightclub days this reviewer, at 260 pounds bodyweight, also loved to occasionally pound away on an opponent. There's a certain psychological satisfaction to landing a well placed blow. The idea here, however, is not to feel good. If one has gained momentary control over the opponents handgun (and, unless one acts quickly and correctly, it's'very momentary ) the last thing one wants is to lose this control during the follow-up technique. Taking one hand off the weapon or weaponhand so as to strike, means a high risk of loosing control. Kicking, especially high kicking means compromising one's balance and stability. Any excessive jerky movement may lead to momentarily putting oneself in the line of fire again. In other words what I'm trying to say by means of this lengthy digression is as follows. You can't dispute step 1. If you do something without getting out of the line of fire, bang, game over. If you get out of the line of threat, but do not establish control of the weapon or weapon hand, maybe it will work and maybe it won't. Not much of an operational basis under life and death circumstances. Whatever you do to finish it, you need to do whilst maintaining full control of the weapon. So locks, joint destructions, throws and suchlike would seem to be the most viable alternatives. So essentially, what you can argue about is that in technique 55 you would have rotated to the left, not the right, giving you this lock rather than the one they are using. If that's about the only technical disagreement one can come up with in a program such as this, then it's one hell of a superior program!

As to content, the instructors cover the principles of joint locking, correct falling techniques in a combat situation, how to move yourself and the gun so that you're no longer in the line of fire, controlling the weapon, techniques against a frontal threat from a handgun, medium length weapon and long weapon and techniques against a threat from the rear with the same. They also cover situations in which you are having to protect a third party who is under threat and a variety of other possible threat situations. After two hours of instruction they move on to defending oneself against a knife and also defences against sticks and clubs. This section finishes with some nifty training techniques against a door.

The next section of just over one hour, is called "fighting chance " and again, is worth the price of the whole series. It covers hair pulling, foot stomps, low kicks including the groin kick, handstrikes, defences against bear hugs, headlocks etc. A really cute, sneaky spring-loaded punch to the groin is taught and some other crafty moves, such as accidentally-on-purpose dropping small change out of one's pocket so as to distract the opponent. The correct targets for using a baton, knife or empty hand are shown and quite a few other tricks and techniques.

If you feel that you will one day face an armed attacker and that you will have to fight him, get these tapes. None of the techniques can be learned and stored in a few minutes, but the time spent on them may, as the expression goes, one day save your life.

E.P.